For the upcoming third instalment of the popular Ah Boys To Men movie series, cast member Maxi Lim went butt naked.

Lim plays Aloysius Jin in Ah Boys To Men 3: Frogmen. His character, also known as "Wayang King", is an overzealous new recruit who is unpopular with the other newbies in camp.

The $2.5 million local movie, which opens here on Thursday, brings the Ah Boys back to the days before their enlistment portrayed in the first two movies. But instead of booking into Pulau Tekong, they are posted to the Naval Diving Unit (NDU).

The scene, which appears in the middle of the sequel, depicts Lim getting pranked by the other soldiers while showering in camp. Not only is there a fully naked view of him from the back, he is also shown running out of the shower naked save for a toilet pump covering his genitals.

The 27-year-old, who lost 10kg in preparation for Frogmen, told The New Paper yesterday: "Thankfully I lost weight and wasn't that fat. But I still didn't have six-pack abs in the movie."

He added: "I was very nervous but it turned into excitement. Initially, everyone on set was giggling as it was quite funny but they became very professional later on and supported me."

Lim, who was speaking at the movie's press conference held at the RSS Endurance, a landing ship tank docked at the VivoCity Promenade as part of the SAF@VivoCity exhibition, went from 75kg to 65kg by following a daily meal plan of fruit, high-fibre red rice and boiled chicken with no seasoning for the movie.

He also took extra precautions on set so that he would not accidentally expose himself.

"I wrapped my private area with flesh-coloured socks and stockings," he said.

"I also went for a body scrub prior to filming the scene as I didn't want to have any pimples on my body."

When asked about Lim's nude scene, cast member Wang Weiliang, 28, who plays cheeky recruit Lobang King, said: "Maxi may be body-conscious, but he was very professional. He was at the point where he didn't care anymore (about feeling shy)."

Lim wasn't the only Ah Boy who bared his body for the movie. The other lead actors were, at one point or another, topless.

Tosh Zhang, 26, and Joshua Tan, 25, featured in a gratuitous scene which saw them taking their T-shirts off while running in the rain in camp.

In it, Tan, who plays rich and spoilt recruit Ken Chow, had to run 50 rounds to prove his determination to his officers.

He denied that it was included just for their female fans, saying: "That scene was reflective of what happens in NDU as everyone in there runs half-naked all the time. For me, I thought I might as well just take it off as I was already very drenched."

Zhang, who plays stern Warrant Alex Ong, added: "The first day we got there for training, the instructor already told us to take off our tops. So we slowly got used to being topless all the time."

He laughed and added: "I mean, obviously that scene is also to attract the ladies."

For the scene, Zhang and Tan didn't drink any water for 24 hours prior to filming to maintain muscle definition.

PUSH UPS

Zhang said: "When we were thirsty, we just had two sips of water. We also didn't eat rice for the entire night. We kept doing push-ups as well."

Tan chipped in: "It's not only for that scene. When we have time on set, we would keep doing a lot of physical training to keep in shape."

When asked to choose who had the hottest bod among them, Wang said without hesitation: "It's Tosh. He is tall and lean, and had six-pack abs during filming."

Zhang returned the favour, saying: "I think it's Weiliang. His body has always been quite good. He was topless in the previous Ah Boys movies, and also in The Lion Men. But I feel like his muscles grew bigger in this movie."

Director Jack Neo, 55, said: "Weiliang has a very taut bod, with very defined abs and very little fat. Tosh, on the other hand, went from skinny to lean and muscular.

"As for Joshua, you can probably tell that he has been going to the gym often. He is so big-sized now. He is what I will call Arnold Schwarzenegger."

Neo denied that he got his stars to shed their clothes in order to draw eyeballs.

He said: "It was in line with the plot and felt natural. Of course, any commercial aspect of it - attracting female fans to watch it - is simply a nice by-product."

I was very nervous but it turned into excitement. Initially, everyone on set was giggling as it was quite funny but they became very professional later on and supported me.